Rated
5/5
Visited: 06/10/2023
Difficulty Accuracy:
Spot On
I ran this trail in a (full-size? I think so...) 4-door 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WK2) with 31" tires and a 4" lift as part of a guided trail-run. It is absolutely as scenic as described, however prepare for significant pin-striping depending on how long it has been since the local Jeep club trimmed back the foliage (thank you Jeepers!).
About all you probably have to worry about (assuming minimum off-road equipment and skills) are width (yes, I shoe-horned my GC through here somehow but it was tight; also a 2022 Gladiator made it through here somehow, but the local Jeep club had trimmed things back for us and you might not be so lucky), slippery mud if wet, and of course pin-striping.
Because this trail is said to take only 50 minutes and is rated only a 3 for difficulty, and because my guided trail-run lasted a very full day (8:30 to 5:30), much of my time was obviously spent on other trails that intersect and/or parallel the official "Jeep Trail" trail, so keep that in mind with my review. Some of the obstacles I encountered (except the tight-spots) were almost certainly parts of other trails, not necessarily this one.
That said, all of Tillamook State Forest has slippery, clay-based mud that can be challenging to drive on when wet, and it rains pretty frequently here (thus forest rather than desert). So even for "easy" trails, I advise airing down, as much for side-to-side traction on mud as for anything else. And for sure, stay well out of the way of any logging trucks you encounter---they have right-of-way because they're flying downhill with a heavy load and basically cannot avoid smashing into you if you're in their way. Literally. No joke.
Reading the description of this trail I'm pretty certain I was on a bunch of harder trails most of my day, so I don't want to scare anyone off of this one...so I'll save those reviews for when (and if) I ever figure out where those crazy guides actually took us...but the views and the beauty you can see from this basic trail really can't be beat.
I will say that on a trail (that had to be a totally different trail than this one so don't worry) our group of 13 vehicles encountered a couple of other trail-runners going in the other direction, and backing up for all of us would have been a massive nightmare...fortunately the people in Oregon are, I swear, some of the absolutely nicest people on Earth, and these two other vehicles graciously found places to back up out of the way for us and we were so grateful. (If you recognize yourself in this description, thank you again you awesome people!!!)
In short, the whole state of Oregon is SO blessed with SO much natural beauty, and the people I met from there are SO nice, I can barely believe it. Can't wait to go back. Oregon rocks.